186 Improved survival of multiple vs single primary melanomas

Abstract

Background: Patients with single primary melanomas have an increased risk of developing subsequent melanomas. Second tumors diagnosed within three months of the incident lesion are termed “synchronous”, while “asynchronous” tumors are diagnosed outside of this window. Objective: Compare the tumor distributions and survival characteristics of patients with synchronous and asynchronous second primary melanomas to patients with single primary melanomas. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Data were collected from an institutional database from 14,029 patients with a diagnosis of a primary melanoma seen between 1970 and 2004.